Khun Poom Funeral

Today is the funeral of Khun Poom, son of princess Ubolrat the daughter of King Bhumibhol of Thailand who dies during tusnami. Pictures of the funeral from ThaiRath and MetroLife.

At last it has arrived…

At last E90 has reached Malaysia soil. If I have the money I will splurge on one. It has the looks and it kept calling out to me. Most of us seen the lord of the rings, yeap E90 is calling me the same way. It has the same effect. Buy me, hold me, I will obey your command, you request me to turn right I turn, left I turn, if you engage in some minor mishaps I will open up my little bags to protect you, it kept on and on with the list of goodies, pestering me.

Alas, I open up my wallet and all I see it’s just my condo resident card, IC, Jusco Card, Isetan card, one gold card and some greens and red color notes and that’s it. My bank book is below 4 figures after my tax deductions. Umm, my protuding little thing at my back has also shrunk, so I guess it does not have much values either, ummm…my notebook plus my old Wira, well I am not sure its enough to pay for which parts. Oh my oh…I guess I gotta to continue to dream and just enjoyed my own saliva. For those who do not know what is E90 click on..

Please no more rains for today...

For the past 3 days, the rains kept pouring, like crying for those poor souls who is paying their tax like me. I heard from my cousin, her husband pays Rm80K+ taxes per year, is like my annual salary. He has worked before in Hong Kong for 2 years plus, I guess my colleague Lee Cheen Siong (LeeCS) is paying the same amount of tax as he is now working in Beijing. Too bad he is married if not I can recommend him to some of you ladies who is reading this blog. I guess LeeCS, is screaming, wooi…..so little meh, I pay Rm100K +, hahaha, his wife will knows the exact figure.

I have washed my clothes since Tuesday and it has yet to completely dry. I just hope and pray today there will be no rains but bright sun shine. If not I am going to run out of underwear and I do not want to go out without wearing that little comfortable cotton, the protector of winds, dust and sometimes maybe insects or any unwelcome guest… Else I really need to improvised and use some big plastic bags and cut 2 holes at the bottom to do the “job”, temporary at least until the original protector dries up.

Q & A....answered by Tan Chun Wei

My colleague Tan Chun Wei has answered the Q and A. The question was from Ms Jumbled Mind and my answer was posted on 20th April 2005, I have then tag Tan Chun Wei... Find out his answer.. I guess he has passed it on to another colleague.

Income Tax and the lingering pains….

I have just completed my income tax form. This is the first year of the self assessment system. I have quite a struggle in doing so. The first hurdle was that it was in Bahasa (Malaysian Language) all the while I received an English version. I almost failed my Bahasa subject during my secondary school exams. Now I need to understand the words that were in the form in order for me to “invest” in the government. I called practically almost daily for the past few days to the Tax department to enquire, to just understand on what some items meant.

In the progress I found out that I still owe them in total of Rm8K including my wife’s. It was a shock to me as I have been receiving statement and all the while it shows credit balance. I guess I will need to pay a personal visit to the tax department to clear it up. Even for this year assessment I owe them in total of Rm5K including my wife. I will need to tighten my belt and eat less to pay them up.

When I reached the row D2 which was on parents medical, I felt a tingle of sadness. This will be the last year that I will be entering it. As I flipped through the medical receipt which my dad has passed to me, I was practically holding back my tears. It has been more than 5 months since he left us but I still feel the loss and the vacuum in my heart, it still ache. Human has always behaves this way, when we are in possession of something, we always treat it as our god gives rights but when we loss it, we feel the pain, the longings. I used to have a father that I could talked to and now all I have is the memories. We do argue once in a while but…..my earphone now is playing a Beyond songs. The songs that was famous after its lead singer was killed in an accident. It said each day we meet, we talked, we laughed and now I need to depart…I think I will stop before the tears starts to roll down from my eyes again…..

Wonky Tong added to my blog roll

Anna blog owner of Wonky Tong, below is descriptions taken from her blog (anna hope you don't mind), so guys enjoy her...oh I mean her blog (don't be filthy minded, hahaha)

Philosophy
Some things are better left unsaid, but for everything else, they must be expelled!
Inspiration
If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor. [Jennifer Jones]

About Her

Name:Anna Neo Chee Nah

The front: 30-something XiaXue wannabe, sister of Eddy Neo Chee Beng, wanting a piece of blob, er, blok, to stay hip!

The scene: Perfectly sane but sometimes inconsistent 30-something, idyllic farmer wannabe, seeking humor in life, sister of 2 jokers, missing home, striving to embrace humanity in its simplest form (oh yeah, like real).

Behind the scene: A blob of jelly that crumbles easily!

Blogging, what is the attraction…

Actually what is the attraction on blogging, I have started mine after Tsunami (last year). That is with the idea of encouraging surfers to donate money. Since then I have posted numerous article, some long, some short. Now even my sister has also joined in, she of all person. She has been complaining about my frequent access to the net and the high phone and net bill. I am still using dial up as my monthly bill is still below Rm60 so no point changing to broadband yet.

There are times I felt like it’s an addiction. The fun of visiting other people blog and there are blogs which post the reader inner most thoughts. However I am not sure if its fiction or not. There are some who writes stories and each post is a small chapter. I have come across blog that advertise their business. I have even come across some with adult photos.

I have even come across, writers of blog that seems a bit annoy by comments by readers. It seems that the blog is only meant for the writer admirers to comment, hahaha. I do love to comments on blogs that I visit as this I hope will encourage them to continue blogging. I have seen blogs with hundreds of comments per post. It’s not easy to come out with things to post day in and day out. I have seen writers that were so good which makes me guess that they could be writers in real life.

I guess I love reading other people blogs and loves other people reading mine. The highest one day hits on my blog so far its 108. I am not sure how long will I continue to blog. This week I felt a bit tired after work and it looks the cold is still hanging around. As I have changed my daily routine for the past 2 weeks. I will walk for almost 10 minutes in the morning to nearest LRT station carrying my “big” lunch box. I stroll along the road in the afternoon, occasionally took the LRT to KLCC, watching and admiring the lunch time crowd and shopper. There are people who rushed to eat their meal as though they need to catch a flight and there are some who actually enjoyed their meal as though there are more than 24 hours a day.

So what is the attraction after all………

In a customer place on 24th floor

I have been working in this current job for more than 12 years. So far I have been in more than 9 projects. I have been to Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. I am now in a 3 to 6 months project in one of the banks downtown. It just a stone throw away from the LRT station. I have even gone to KLCC on last Friday, walking around for 40 minutes before heading back. The journey of the train itself is 20 minutes (return).

I have been there for almost 2 weeks. The things I like most about this job is that I get to meet with a new group of users after each project. It’s like starting a new job all over again. As we faced the user quite often we need to quickly adapt to new set of characters and personality, I have yet to come across users that act or behave the same. I have not really talks to user that are involved in this project yet as I am not leading the project but I am more like a “helper”.

I took this photo from the window of the men’s toilet, hahaha as the working area is all sealed up and the window is tinted. It shows the Dataran Merdeka, click on to this site for more information, its quite a historical place. It was at this place that I experience the minor “riot” during the Anwar case. I have seen burning tyres on the road, people running around helter skelter, police firing tear gas & water cannons and etc. I am back again after 6 years. It is still a sight to behold, the old court house, the tallest flag pole, the selangor padang (fields) and its club house and of course the calm and peaceful environment.........

Oh before I forgot for those who is Malaysian (exclude my colleagues hahaha) that think that they knew the building that I took this photo from, do comments.

Stubborn cold

I have been having this cold for the past 4 days. I guess I caught it at the customer site. On Wednesday when I walked into the place everybody around me was sneezing and wheezing like they have a pact to have a “cold” party. I will be surprised if I stay “untouched” by the virus. True enough on Thursday morning the tap water in my nose was opened, it was pouring mucus uncontrollably and to make it worst it was a holiday, what a waste (sounds as if I will paint the town red if I am well, hahaha).

I immediately took a cold pill and slept almost for the whole day. I was already feeling much better on Thursday evening until I was caught in the rain on Friday evening. Yesterday the mucus dam was opened again until today. I guess I might be on the bed and resting and hope the flu bug flew away. Aiyah then I could not be surfing all those interesting blog…..ummm itchy hand of mine is already reaching for my thinkpad….

Ikea SleepOver Party

There is an interesting contest or games organize by Ikea in Damansara. Its called SleepOver Party. I am not sure, if I am the type of person that will goes for such games. I guess the participant might need to sleep openly in the public or they will need to endure a night of games without any sleep. Whoever can withstand it without falling asleep is the winner. I wonder what the rules are, I know for sure participants gotta be couples and legally married. Those who knows the rules of the games, do comment.

If the couple is required to sleep openly then they should be a lot of fun but for those who cannot sleep in foreign bed like me then it will definitely be a big problem. Or those who snore loudly, then it will be a night of endless snores orchestra. Umm, maybe after the sleep over, a new album will be produced. I guess Ikea is hiring extra temp staff to wipe all those saliva generated. For those who is interested below is the details...

4th May
Spend A Night Of Fun & Games At IKEA To Get Your Desired Bed Frame And Mattress At 50% Off
Register at IKEA on 21st onwards
Mutiara Damansara
03-7726-7777

Another colleague joins the blogger

Lets refer her as Sim Tan with her blog called Disposed Thoughts

Holy soil

Asians always believe in the super natural, whether in regards to the spirits world, faith healer, fortune teller, Feng Shui and etc. I have known some people who believe in horoscope also. I was hooked on it during my teens. I read the horoscope section from STAR with no fail, rain or shine, stomachache or no stomachache. You know lah guys love to read the paper in the toilet.

I am not sure why, but my interest at that time was more on the “love” thing. I guess the writer knows what interest people. Sometimes it will have predictions like “You will meet with someone that possibly could be the love of your life” Or “Today it’s your day, you will be notice by someone”. I guess it’s more like the anticipation and expectation of what lies ahead that got me hook.

I have since grown out of it. When I was born, my mom took me to a fortune teller that calculates my life destiny and fate, something called the “Pha Men”. The result of the calculation was written on a piece of paper. In has all the major and critical points in my life, for example, when will I get married, sick and die. Until today I still kept it but the problem is that I could not read it as it is Chinese Character. I have forgotten what was told by the fortune teller to me. The only thing I remember is that I will have 2 houses.

My cousin lends me a book called 365 Feng Shui Tips by Lillian Too. There is one tip in regards to borrowing Chi of holy place. Recently my cousin went to India for 13 days. It’s a tour headed by monks and the main itinerary is mainly on places that Buddha has once been. She bought back some soil from the place where Buddha got enlightenment. She gives me a bit of the soil. We were advice to scatter the soil in front of my house, at the balcony, through the windows in all the rooms and to put some in the plants. Look at the picture; you could see those little cubes of soil.

Maybe some of us are asking, what is actually Feng Shui? What is Chi? What is Yin Yang? Click on to this site to find out.

Genting Scenery

I took this in my hotel room at 7am in the morning. I am not sure if it can be seen at ground level as most area in genting is fill with playgrounds and theme park. It’s a sight that I wished I could see every morning. I remember a few years back I was quite interested in the housing project near genting skyway called Gohtong Jaya. The price was not expensive (around RM130k) but somehow I did not buy it as I was in a Bangkok project at that time.

I was barely in malaysia, I guess I was only in malaysia for 4 to 5 days in a month. It is also the distance that stops me from buying. I have the ideas of buying it as a weekend home. I have been living in KL city for all my life, choked with the air, the traffic and etc. If there are new developments in that area, I guess I will be the first in line to take up the offer…..

Questions and Answers

Got tagged by Ms Jumble Mind, I have tagged Tan Chun Wei (my colleague), let hope he answer it and tag somewhere else.

1. Name? Mr Soohk
2. Were you named after anyone? No, not that I know of, maybe a country that has H and K...
3. Do you wish on stars? No, Ionly see stars running around my head.
4. When did you last cry? Oh, this is sensitive la, quess during my father funeral.
5. Do you like your handwriting? No, my handwriting love me though, whenever I start writing, it comes out.
6. What is your favorite lunch meal? Used, to be indian rice with papadam but now plain vege with white rice as now other choice already.
7. What is your birth date? Nov 14.
8. What is your most embarrassing CD? Umm, it should be the best of big country. I love their remix but not the original songs.
9. Fav flower? Rose
10. Do you use sarcasm a lot? If someone uses it at me, I will do the same.
11. Would you bungee jump? No, I got big head so I afraid my head will disconnect from my body, hahaha.
12. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Yes.
13. Do you think that you are strong? If by size yes, if by head yes, if by strength no.
14. what is your favorite ice cream flavor? Plain Vanila.
15. Hot chocolate or ice cream? Ice-cream
16. Red or pink? Pink
Same as Ms Jumbled Mind, "This survey didn't have a no. 17 to start with... so there will be no no.17 on mine too"
18. Last person you ate with? My wife and sister and a few ants.
19. What do you see outside your window? A mosque and some naked women, hahaha just joking.
20. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Now, I am naked hahaha but before that I was wearing a dark blue Khakis from Mark and Spencer and my almost konk out Clark shoes.
21. What are you listening to right now? TV sounds from Wah Lah Toi.
22. Last thing you ate? Steam Chicken, Pah Choy, Lotus soap.
23. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Blue, my favourite color.
24. What is the weather like right now? Windy.
25. Last person you talked to on the phone? A collegue from the same project.
26. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Is this a trick question? For my wife that is reading this post, the eyes.
27. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Have not seen her but ok lah, my hand pressing my heart, hahaha.
28. Favorite Drink? Used to be Teh Tarik
29. Favorite Sport? Badminton
30. Real hair color? Black
31. Color of eyes? Dark Brown but will become green when angry.
32. Do you wear contacts? No.
33. Favorite Food? Used to be fried food now steam fish.
34. Last Movie You Watched? Sharks Tale.
35. Favorite Day Of The Year? New Year
36. Scary Movies Or Happy Endings? Happy Endings
37. Summer Or Winter? Winter
38. Hugs OR Kisses? Kisses
39. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? Tab Tim Crop (Thai Dessert, Water chest nut)
40. Last concert you saw? Christina in genting.
41. Last book you bought? Angel and Demons by Dan Brown.
42. Songs you listen to over and over again? Now, Jacky Cheung CD which I got it for free when I bought IPOD.
43. What Did You Watch Last night on TV? A movie by Leslie Cheung I guess on TV3.
44. Favorite Smells? My wife smell.
45. Most memorable vacation? Switzerland
46. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Beatles
47. Furthest been from home? Switzerland.
48. Do you have a special talent? Oh, never think about it, I guess I do not have any, does the capability of control once farting consider a talent, hahahaha just joking.
49. What is your ringtone? Tah Tah, Tik Tik, Cha Cha, umm do not know the name.
50. Are you gonna repost this for other people to do? Will pass this to Tan Chun Wei (my colleague), that just join the blogger world.

Oh Christina, Encore! Encore!

Christina concert was held at the Genting International Showroom. For dinner, we decided to warm ourselves up by eating at the First World Café as there is a Thai food fest. There is a burden of thai food like Chicken Rice (Kow Man Kai), Fish Cake (Thod Mun), Mango salad (Som Tam), Thai Fried Mee (Phad Thai), Tom Yam prawn (Kung) and etc available.

It was quite a filling and satisfying dinner although I ate only Phad Thai and steam fish only. This could possibly due the atmosphere created by a Thai Band performing some songkran songs. I think I did hear some loy krathong songs also. As for my wife and sis, they ate almost non-stop for half and hour, plates after plates was filled and then emptied.

After an hour of munching and foot tapping, we finished our dinner and headed straight to the showroom. We arrived at around 7:45 pm; the show was scheduled to starts at 8 pm. Our seats were right smacked in the middle of the hall. As we sat comfortably, we noticed that hall is still quite empty. Our first thought is, maybe a lot of Thai is coming to see the show and like most typical thai, arriving late is the norm.

True enough, throng of thai’s walks in after 8 pm filling up almost the whole hall. Well I did saw 2 farangs (foreigner) with blonde hair sitting in front of us and some Malaysian which spoke in Cantonese right in the first row. I guess Christina attracts not only thais but some foreign fans also.

Christina kicked off the shows approximately before 8:15 pm, she came out wearing a tight fitting black pants and a black dress with one exposed arm and a white laze (corset like) covering her chest area. That is our Christina, sexy, attractive and charismatic. She kicks off with a fast number. She did changed once, coming out with a black shinning black spaghetti tee. The shows lasted for around 1 hour and 15 minutes, she sang songs like Pravat Saad (History), Rak Tur Tee Sur (love you most) and a lot more.

She was quite energetic and she is quite friendly. She walks up to the audience, sang and danced with them, for a few times, that’s how I got those close up shots of her. My camera does not have any zoom functions, so those shots were taken very close. She did drop by my row, my wife was “too shy” to react, well I am not, did you guys notice me dancing almost just 3 feets of her, hahaha, the picture was quite blur as I got too excited and accidentally pressed the scenery mode when I pass the camera to my wife. I look forward to the next songkran, I guess there will be another great thai singer performing again in genting.

Miss The Greenery

The journey up to Genting was what I expected; we leave Pasar Rakyat at 10:30 am and reaches there before noon, no delay at all. The temperature was around 21 Celsius. After checking in we wander off to breathe some fresh air.

I realize that the lake, that we used to be sitting around enjoying our morning breakfast has now turn to a theme park with roller coaster rides and other attraction. It is now resides in an enclosure, which you need to pay to enter it, some sort like sunway lagoon.

The air is still surprisingly quite fresh with a bit of haze. After briskly walking around the theme park parameter, I felt that Genting has been transformed to a place suitable for families and I guess partially it has actually isolated certain groups like us. We prefer the “walk in the park” and lazing around and just absorbing the negative ions to recharge our body.

I guess what we miss is the greenery. We do manage to find certain parts of Genting that still have some greenery which is at the back of theme park hotel and beside First world hotel. I hope Genting will expand “pocket” of empty areas around other hotel parameter to include small green lungs. This is to cater for city dwellers like us that does not really gamble but is merely there to enjoy the fresh air and admire the mountain views.

Media Reader

I just bought a media reader, which cost around Rm37. It allows me to transfer the pictures from my wife camera to the computer as it reads SD, CF and other type of cards. I have chosen this model because it has the appleish look.

I think apple successfully created a new era for white color based product. I remember a white color product used to be always a no no as it means difficult maintenance due to nature of it getting dirty easier. Now you could see a lot of manufacturer that incorporates white color into its product.

Cancer Alert on Toothpaste

I got an email from a fellow MOLer, it contains a scary subject, cancer alert on toothpaste, it contains a link . To my surprise the toothpaste that I am using contains that particular ingredient which is called Triclosan. I have thrown it away. I am not sure what is the impact but it was quoted in the site that it will react with water that contains chlorine producing chlorofoam-gas. Read the site for more details… in the mean time I am searching for my other oral products....

Someone’s dream is now part of everybody dreams.

Well I woke up quite early on Thursday maybe due to the anticipation of the excitement awaiting me in Genting. I even manage to post a link to rich white boy at 7 am. My personal views on Genting development over the years is the way it was being planned. The stories I heard was quite an interesting one which I could not really confirm.

The land or mountain was offered by the government at a very low price as they believe it’s quite near to impossible to build anything, let alone to reap any profit from it but Mr Lim (the owner) has his dream. His dream of a place, that offered a cool retreat to the city people. The initial challenge is to think of an attraction to entice the city folks to leave their cocoon and head up to his haven. Well everybody knows what is it now, it’s the casino. Genting was the first and it’s still the only legal casino in the country.

Well the plan was set in motion, a place and an attraction. What about a place to stay? A hotel was built to accommodate those people who come from far away to rest and to “recharge” their body energy before heading back. Now there are more than 5 hotels and the total rooms offered are 10,000.

Its already has an attraction, a hotel, what next? There is still this missing link, there is no road, the mountain was a jungle fill with trees and the challenge is to build one which is safe enough for everyone to use it. It started off with a road that fills with stones; gradually it becomes a tar road. Now Genting have 2 cable car systems, one it’s the longest in South East Asia. Buses is available in almost all the major bas station like Pudu Raya, KL Sentral, Gombak, duta and pasar rakyat in Imbi.

For this trip we took a bus from Pasar Rakyat in Imbi, it has been 2 years since the last time I visit Genting, things have not changed much since then. It is still bustling with construction. It started of with a person dream and now it has become a place whereby everyone has their own dream. The dream of coming down as a millionaire. Here is a quote from Genting website by Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, the Founder, "Once the goals have been clearly defined, with the greatest amount of determination and hard work, one can conclusively realise one's goals."

Another new addition to my blog roll

Rich White Boy, he writes about his personal encounters and interesting tales.

Genting here I come and helloooo Christina

Today is Songkran Holiday in Thailand, my wife is already back here in KL. I have taken 2 days off and will be heading up to Genting for 2 days. There are a few objectives, the first is of course to get some fresh air and get away from the hustle and bustle of KL and as usual I will attend one of the many shows or performance that is being offered. On year 2003 I attended a concert by a thai singer called Mai.

I went searching for one at the Genting website. I was surprised to find that there is going to be a performance or concert by a singer called Christina Aguilar. The name was quite familiar, and the first thing that flashes across my mind is “Dirty”. A video that I saw on MTV and if I remember correctly it caused a hoo hah in thailand as it was about the sex industry over there.

Then my rational and logic side of my brain takes over my guy instinct. Umm its Christina is an international star, if she will to perform in Malaysia it will not be Genting, it will be in a bigger venue as her fees will definitely be very costly. And of all days on Songkran, umm could it be Christina of Thailand and not of USA. I click for more details, Oh! is Christina from Thailand. She is my wife favorite thai singer. My wife has most of her albums.

For those who are interested to know what is Songkran about, just click Thai Blog. Or click on Christina Aguilar or Christina Aguilera.com

2 more colleague join the blogging world.

I have added 2 more blog spots to my blog roll, both of them are my colleague. Lay Peng and Tan Chun Wei.

Uniform that represents 2 sides of the law, black and white

Malaysia recently celebrated its 198th Police Day celebrations. The majority person that I talked to has their own tales of “private and confidential encounter” with the police. At the end of their stories it paints a picture that depicts the police as just part of the system that drains our country resources. They are the one who are dressed in a smart uniform and sparkling shoes that are suppose to guard the law and order of the country but they are sometimes the offender.

I used to stay in a flat. A lot of the occupants are consists of meat, vegetables and noodles sellers in the market. I have heard some of them say this before, “Police is just robbers in uniform, and they are the legal one”. Their understanding of the police work is that they work in shift but the shift is according to festive season. They only work a month before festive season such as Hari Raya and Chinese New Year. They will then hibernate in some concrete building enjoy whatever they have reap from them. I think in most organization there bound to be some bad apples.

My first encounter with a tainted police is when I was just 18 years old. As I am a guy, my mother has always urged me to get a driving license and become a man with wheels. My mom with her slightly serious tone, “Low Chai, you know lah you are not that clever as your sister in studies. You should get a license, so that when you leave school you will have advantages over others”. Just before you scratch out all your hairs, “low chai” is my nick name that my parents and my relatives call me.

I went for my driving test immediately after my form five. I manage to pass it in my second attempt. As usual the grapevine said that if you do not “gives” anything you will not pass on the first attempt. After I passed my mom still insists in tutoring me on the finest skill of driving before actually allowing me to drives during peak traffic hours. She is not training me to become a F1 driver but to ensure that I do not accidentally knock into an 80 years old grandpa of somebody or some stray dogs.

In my first “trial drive” after passing my driving license, I was woken up by my mom as early as 6:30 am to “Trial Cross” the roundabout of hell. In those days the junctions that are now full with traffic lights near the dewan bahasa used to be a roundabout. There are no traffic lights but just 8 roads leading to it. Those who are faint hearted or “Green horn” drivers will shiver with fear when they are near it.

My family has 2 cars at that time; one is a mazda and the other my favorite Austin mini, which I called “Flintstone Car”. I choose to drive the Flintstone on that day. I proudly insert my car key into it and slowly and steadily I left the parking lot. When I reached near the roundabout of hell, there are not a lot of cars. It could be still early, I sighed, Or all of them have got notices that I am out on the road, hahaha. I stopped and hesitate for a while before engaging into first gear as I thought a lorry was about to cross at the same time. I was almost 3 quarter length of the roundabout when I notice a flashing red and blue light in the rear mirror. My mom looked at me and said “What happen, you did not do anything wrong”.

The police car was right beside and the officer with a strange and familiar moustache (it reminds me of Charlie chaplin) asked me to stop the car. As an obedient citizen I stop, the officer walks over and said “Gives me your license”. I hand over it and asked “What is the problem officer”. He looked at me and looked at my license; he said “Just passed? Your license ah? How come do not have signature at the back?”. “Oh!” I said. Then the usual prelude, “Its early in the morning, I have yet to eat my breakfast, I guess today I need to eat some roti canai and a nice coffee, you understand?” and he pass over the file that he was holding into the my face. My street smart mom quickly took out a red color notes and put it in there. From that day, when a police office stops me, the same prelude, the same file and the same color notes (nowadays more piece), repeat itself like a fever that does not goes away.

There are some improvement since then but if a white color clothes is tainted with dirt, lipsticks and curries, it will take some time before people perception view on it changes from black to white. I have a very high hope that in the end Malaysian police force will be one that most Malaysian will be proud of. For those police officer who is on the right side, I salute you and Happy Police Day, may the force be with you and do continue to stay there.

The organic facts

World health day just passed. I am now 50 percent organic in terms of the food that I eat. The organic vegetables, fruits, mee hon, pastas and etc are a bit expensive and not widely available. I am currently buying it from Jusco. Recently I came across an article in Jusco Pearl magazine; it has an article called “The Organic Truth”. It has some interesting facts.

There are a few categories of organic product. If a food package has the word Organic it means the product contains only organically-produces raw or processed substances, excluding water or salt. A product that is label as organic means 95% to 100% organic. If the product is 70% to 95% organic then it is allowed to be label as made with organic ingredients or organically produced. If a product is less than 70% organic then it cannot have any organic word in the main label, it allows only to list its organic ingredients only.

This clear up a few confusing thoughts of mine, which has been in my tiny brain for quite sometime. There are a few “organic” brands in Jusco. I used to buy from a brand that is 15 percent cheaper than another. Both of these brands sell the same type of vegetable with almost the same weight but one brand actually has a 15 percent cheaper price tag. Now I know why, the reason is that its label is “organically produced”. Umm after 7 months, the truth is known.

Bone Cracking 2 saturdays'

The condominium that I am currently living in has been my house for more than 8 years. It has witness a few major episodes in my life, me from a lone ranger to a married man, my father pass away; my left kidney removed and etc.

What I dislike in this house it’s the workmanship. The outer layer of the building looks like a flat, the paint has started to peel off. We have urged the management to repaint it but as usual some tenants did not actually pay their maintenance fees, the amount total to a staggering one millions plus, with some tenants owing more than 30,000.

In the kitchen, the tiles are dropping off. It started with a single tile, slowly and gradually almost half of the wall has since lay bare. The quality of the previous contractor that did it might have been sleeping while doing it or they might have been cutting corners to earn extra profit.

So the whole of last Saturday from 10 am till 5.30 pm we were watching the contactor retiling the kitchen. The most tiring part is the cleaning up. The dust generated was 1 cm thick; it was as if my house was stuck by a dust storm. The dust came from the removal of the old tiles and cement that comes with it and cutting of new tiles to fit corners. It was a bone cracking experience wiping the kitchen cabinet, floors, chairs and etc.

And yesterday, I spend my whole afternoon watching the air-cond in my room being cleaned. I have requested a chemical service, it involves the air-cond being dismantle into its bare part and it was subjected with sprays of a pinkish liquid which actually takes off the dirt in the air-cond coiling and compressor system. Again I ended cleaning my room and the living room. Umm, I guess next Saturday I planned for a bed laying, remote pressing, TV goggling and filter water drinking activities.

Who is this handsome?

A lot of people are asking me when they can see Soo’s Junior. The most recent was raised by my cousin as my nephew (who is a lot younger than me) is expecting his first born end of this year. My colleague also has been asking me this question. My answer to them is that I am a bit reluctant to initiate a process which is a life time commitment unlike a car or a house loans.

Some said it will complete one’s life. Some said it will make us work harder as we know that there are someone who is now depends on us, what they eat, wear, study and etc. Some said when you grow old they will take care of you. These are the plus side. The negative side is baby’s pooh, baby natural alarm which will wakes you up every 2 hours. If the baby is a girl, then as parents we got to worry of predator. If a boy got to worry about him being a “Tai Koo”. There are endless positive and negative.

Actually my main problem is my current health condition, there are numerous what if scenario running around my brain. So I am not sure is it right to embark on such a long journey and put my stamp on a long term commitment, I do not want my defect genes to be pass along to my children, to have them having the same problem.

The handsome man here is not my son but he is the son of my colleague Chat and his wife Pom (also my colleague), this is their second child, and their first is a daughter. So when is my turn, umm lets flip the coin to decide, head to initiate the process, tail to wait and see, “Swosh, Flip Flap, Flip Flap” Oh! I will let you guys knows the result in 9 months. I guess some of my colleague and friends who is reading this will shout and said “Aiyah, Just do it”.

New addition to my blog roll

I have added a few blogs into my blog roll, Agent X, Cowboy Caleb, Hong Fee, Humanity Critic, Letti and Ms JumbledMind

Arrg! Cannot blog..

I have been trying to post an article for the past 24 hours but it seems I can’t even reach the sign on screen. Now looks like its back to normal, business as usual, keyboard punching, brain cells swimming, blog posting and surfing.

I hope it stays that way, thanks to fellow members in the lounge that highlighted the problem. The problem was due to the internet service provider. Initially I thought it’s due to blogger.com traffic.

Eyes In the sky

I have heard from a friend that we could use the mobile phone network to track the whereabouts of a friend or spouse or anyone. As long as the other parties grant you the rights by accepting an “invitation”, you could virtually track the other party whereabouts by just a sms. Well this could be useful for someone who needs to do that like a wife who suspects that the husband was having a candlelight dinner instead of working late in the office. Well if the husband is smart he will said that he is having dinner with an old classmate or neighbor. Well the wife can track the location but she cannot track the person(s) having dinner with her husband.

There is a show called Enemy of the state starring Will Smith. It shows the capability of a tracking system that uses satellite, the resolution is so fine that it can see him running across streets and etc. If this capability is open to the public with live feed, then the suspecting wife could tells who her husband was walking with into the posh restaurant. Even the paparazzi can use it to track movie stars whereabouts. Parents could use it to track their children, employers tracking their marketing staff whereabouts and etc.

Actually we have seen such application put to use in today modern warfare. Like in Iraq it was use to track the movement of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Although none could be found, hahaha but we are aware of this capability by the daily broadcast provided by CNN and other cable news network.

I visit thai blog daily (link in my blog roll), I came across this post which shown such capability but not to the extent of seeing someone faces and it's not live. Its good enough to see houses clearly, those who are interested could click from there, the post date was on 2nd April 2005. It shows some interesting details pictures of thailand. And to top it off the software that was used is available for download for a trial period of 7 days. Anyone interested click on to keyhole or try google map (USA only). Umm I think I will be buying a big hat, big enough to cover my body, in case there is a system which shows live feed as I afraid my wife could be monitoring me…….. hahaha….

Where is the love?

For the past few months, things have not been so well with Thailand. There are a lot of disturbance in the south. Tsunami also hits Thailand tourist area like phuket, phang nga and others. In January 05 there is also an incident of the Underground MRT crashing. Last Sunday a bomb blast at Hatyai airport, Carrefour and Songkla and this Monday at Yala . What is going on?

I have once worked in Thailand, the people there is very friendly. It’s very hard to believe that such act is happening frequently in southern Thailand. I am not sure is it because they dislike Thaksin due to the incident whereby a mosque was stormed by the army & police and also the incident whereby hundreds of citizen was killed when they were packed like sardines in trucks?

I hope all parties involved should solve this matter by love and not by force. I just bought an album by black eyed peas. There is a song called where is the love? I hope everybody should look at a bigger picture, which is peace and stability of Thailand for its occupant and also foreigner to visit and enjoy. Life killed due to natural disaster like tsunami and earthquake, could not be avoided but all these can by a four letter word called LOVE. Love for its fellow country man, love for country and love for human life.

The Bouncing Ball

Today is the exact day of Cheng Ming. Most of us, one way or another will come across or heard about ghost stories. We might have heard it either from our parents, relatives, colleagues or friends. I have heard a few but I have actually only experience twice. I did not see any white figurine floating around or any ghost faces in both events.

I worked in a Software company which supplies banking software. Somewhere in 1996; my company manages to get a contract to supply our software and consultancy services to a bank in Thailand. The office place that we were supposed to work in is located in one of the most famous streets in Bangkok. When I first arrived I was quite fascinated with the place. The main building which contains the banking hall is situated in the front of the streets. Right at the back of the building there are more than 7 other building blocks, some are around 4 to 5 storey. The façade and architecture design of the building reflects the 60’s or 70’s era.

The building that was designated for us as our office space is almost at the end. It has 4 floors. My company took up 2 floors, the 3rd and 4th floor; I am on the 4th floor. When you walk into the building, the first thing that you will notice is the stairs. It is very wide, enough for an elephant to walk through. When you open the door at my floor you could see that there are 2 office space separated by the stairs. Each side has a toilet. The guys’ toilet is on the right and the ladies is on the left. Each sides itself is separated into 2 areas with the toilet in the middle. On my side both of this area is occupied. I sat beside the toilet which faces the wall (that’s where the stair is). From the place that I sit I could not see the other area where the ladies toilet is situated. There is one unoccupied area, which is just outside of the ladies toilet. It contains some boxes pilling up on each other which were used during the users’ relocation from another office area.

When you work on overseas assignment you tend to goes to the office on weekends which are better that staying at the apartment staring at 4 walls. On one such weekend I was back in the office. As usual I packed my favorite Char Siew Fan as breakfast from the stores below my apartment. When I reached the office there are lights on the 3rd floor, I did not went in, I guess it could be one of my Malaysian colleague or the cleaners. I went up straight to my places. I switched open the radio, Bird’s song was on. I opened my food and I bite into the fragrant rice which was covers with the Char Siew gravy. I was half way through my rice when I notice that there is some sound coming from the ladies toilet side.

It sounds like falling boxes. My first thought is that it could be wind. I continue to munch on my char siew. “Tom”, this time the sound is louder. I stood up and I walk slowly towards the sounds. I reached the spaces in front of the door, I still could not see clearly as I did not open the lights on that side. I slowly walk towards the area near the ladies toilet. I did not notice any fallen boxes. Umm, strange, it could not be wind as the window was shut tight. Cat? Mouse? At that time I feel a bit chill; I guess it could be the cold shower I took this morning. I walk straight back to my side and continue with my char siew fan. “TOM!” this time it’s even louder, my first reaction is to pack the rice and head for the door.

I ran down the stairs as quickly as my foot and muscle could carry me. I could hear the same sound but this time its clearer and even louder, it’s a sound of a ball bouncing from the ladies toilet end towards the door. I reached the 3rd floor; I hope my colleague is still around. I pushed the door with my right arms, it’s locked, damn! I continue to run down the stairs towards the main door at the ground floor. The fading sound of a ball bouncing at the background "TOM!TOM!TOM!" accompanying the sound of my footsteps stumbling and skipping steps. I reached the ground floor in less than a minute. My hearts was pounding as fast and hard as a war drum beat. The weather on the outside is not hot but it’s not cold either but I could feel that all the hairs on my arms are pointing upwards.

The next morning I relate the tales to some of my colleague and users and to my surprise they have tales of their own. Tales of sound coming from the pantry, sounds of the spoon stirring the cup, the only problem is that no one is in the pantry. The users told me that across the building there is a cemetery. I peep through the window from the 4th floor, true enough there are a few tombstones basking in the sun light, it does not looks like a full scale cemetery. One of the tombstones looks smaller, probably lay beneath it is a kid that loves to play with balls. It has been more than 8 years but its still gives me Goosebumps when I relate this to someone.

Societe – A cafe at Lot 10

Yesterday I was at the vicinity area of Sungai Wang and LOT 10. My wife and I were there to exchange some RM to Thai baht. We were caught stranded at LOT 10 due to the rain, it was quite heavy. We were walking around the area of Isetan, when we decided to eat some salad to burn some time. We were contemplating between Deli France and a shop that we have not tried before by the name of Societe. We finally decided to goes for Societe.

We flipped through the menu to order our drinks and we notice that they sell a lot of Malaysian food, like Asam Mee, Curry Mee, Chicken Rice, Ais Kacang and etc. What caught our attention is the Satay. After translating the word into images in our mind, the smells of the chicken meat, the aroma of the sauce, my wife changes her mind. So we order the chicken satay instead.

My wife said the satay taste not bad. It cost around Rm12 and it consists of 10 pieces of chicken satay, sauce (that made of crunch peanuts and chili), cut ketupat and cucumber. My wife did not manage to finish it though; it was quite big a piece. We actually ask for a doggy bag and packed it back. Over all the place is decent looking, clean but the service is a bit slow but tolerable. We might drop by again if we are caught in the rain near that area to try out some other Malaysian delicacy.

An interesting blog

I come across an interesting blog. I guess I love the showcase of foods, it is about Saigon. Below is an extract : "From gutter grub to gourmet tables. Noodlepie is a blog about scoff & swill in Saigon"....Noodlepie

Pope John Paul II – 1920 -2005

He was born on 1920, coronated in 1978, pass away on 2005. Although I am not from the catholic faith nor am I a Christian but I will like to pay tribute to a man that has been an icon to the world. He has survived a few assignation attempt, the most publicize one is on May 13, 1981. He was so forgiving he met with the person who tries to assassinate him in the prison. News from BBC, News from NYTimes, a minute of silence, please ……….

Moontrepreneur

As most of us aware, now the earth has been experiencing earth quake in a frequency that causes some concern. Will Earth last with all this shaking in its core? If the earth can survive can it avoid other calamity like getting hit by a meteorite? Or it might disintegrate itself due to global warming. All of this it’s a possibility, it could happen in our generation or it could happen in the next generation. We have tried to seek other possible planets to live in. Hence there are a lot of exploration to planets like Mars and etc as an alternative. We have once thought of the moon as well.

Well some of us have heard of Li Ka-Shing of Hong Kong. A self made billionaire due to his involvement with property and lands. Well we might have a chance to become the next one. There is a recent report that an Indian gentleman owns a piece of land on the moon. If one day the earth has been seized of its precious environment which makes living impossible, then moon might be the next place to be in.

Just imagine if we own a vast amount of lands on the moon, wouldn’t it make us the Li Ka-Shing of the moon. Refer to this website for details. If it’s true, this would be an opportunity of a life time for us or our son or grandson or…..

KFC Curry Crunch

Malaysia KFC has introduced a product which they called Curry Crunch. I will not be able to try it due to my strict diet. This is the following words taken from the advertisement. “It is marinated with a delivious blend of authentic curry spices. Double breaded and cooked to a crunchy golden brown. And finally garnished with a sprinkle of crispy curry leaves.”

The last time I try something new in KFC is the chicken with Tom Yam taste. I was in Langkawi vacationing with my wife, dad and sis. It’s not what I expected. It’s not as nice as the original and Spicy flavor chicken. I think it’s no longer in the menu. Well those who have tried this Curry Crunch do drop me a comment on the taste.

What will KFC introduce next? KFC with soya sauce taste or KFC fried together with honey, butter? Ummm Its finger licking good……

Hell Notes

Based on some comments, it must have been a confusing time (for those who is not Asian), when I said we burn hell notes or money during Cheng Ming. I have post a picture here for those who are curious as how it looks like. It shapes and colors might change according to times, same as our normal notes.

Terri Schiavo

Terri Schiavo has died, news of her death. I hope she will finally rest in peace and that there will be no post mortem to confirm that her condition is irreversible as rumor recently. I hope her parents and supporters will not pursue the matter.

She is on her way to the next world; let her goes along that road with awareness that she has received a lot of love from her parents. Let “cool” head prevail. There are a lot of other ways to show love. Having her body subjected to more torture is not necessary.

Refer to my previous post for more information.

Leslie Cheung - 2nd anniversary & Happy April Fools Day

Those who is in their late twenties and thirties will surely knows who is Leslie Cheung. Today is the 2nd anniversary of his death . He who has all the fame and fortune plunges to death from the Mandarin Oriental hotel, he was 46 years old then. There is a lot news circulating about the reason why he takes this way to end his life. Some said it’s due to his depression or his breakup with his lover.

I was very surprised when I heard the news, I grows up listening to songs from him, Alan Tam, Jacky Cheung and others. I used to stay in a 16 storey flat when I was in my teens. Each year there is at least an incident of someone taking their lives by jumping from the highest floor. I have seen once such case. The unit that I stayed in is near the lift. Its quite small, its layout it’s a single room, single living and single bath. Hence once you open the door you could see the living and dining straight away.

On one particular rainy day, I was watching a TV drama series. I was sitting comfortably when suddenly on the right corner of my eyes I sense that something was rushing down from upwards and it was followed by a loud “Thud” sound. I rushed to the corridor and to my horror I saw a body lying on the bottom of the concourse. I could see that there is a trail of blood which gives me the impression that when the body hit the ground it actually bounce and slides a few feet from the ground during impact. There are also splatters of solid looking things near the body which looks like brain tissue or internal organs. It’s not a sight that I wish to see again.

I am not sure what pushes Leslie to jump but I am sure when he reached the edge of the building, definitely there are a lot of things circulating through his mind. When his thoughts reaches to that particular memory that he cannot forgo or that is bothering and upsetting him, it could be the “Trigger” that makes him takes his foot off the edge and jump to oblivion and into another world.

Of all days he chooses April fool day to end this life. Is he trying to send a message that life is nothing but a joke? We came into this world with nothing. We study hard, we fall in love, we fall out of love, we work hard, we neglect our family, we becomes a parents, we save money, we falls sick and finally when its time for us to go, we go empty handed just as we come into this world. Rest in Peace, Leslie and Happy April fools day everyone.